10 Beautiful Minerals You Won't Believe Are Found on Earth

We've all seen our fair share of rocks, and most of them aren't that pretty. The ones that are though, can be totally mind-blowing. Ryoji Tanaka, a Japanese photographer and chemist, likes to capture some of the most striking elements, minerals, and compounds in close-up (like the Uranium-containing cuprosklodowskite you see above) and the results are crazy awesome.

Adamantane (by sublimation)

Bismuth

Titanium crystals (by electrolysis)

Andersonite

Plain old gold

Vanadinite crystals on white barite

Muonionalusta meteorite

Karpatite

Uvarovite

Bonus Non-mineral: Thenoic acid

Top Image: Uranium-containing cuprosklodowskite. All photos by Ryoji Tanaka with permission